Authorities weighing whether to charge Emilio in crash

Published 5:30 am, Saturday, May 3, 2008

Emilio Navaira, who continues to recover from injuries sustained in a Easter morning bus crash, has a DWI charge in San Antonio that remains unresolved.

Emilio Navaira, who continues to recover from injuries sustained in a Easter morning bus crash, has a DWI charge in San Antonio that remains unresolved.

Photo: JOHNNY HANSON, CHRONICLE FILE

Authorities weighing whether to charge Emilio in crash

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SAN ANTONIO — Given famed Tejano singer Emilio Navaira's intoxicated state when he crashed his tour bus in late March, injuring himself and five others, authorities said Friday there's a chance the man may face DWI and intoxication assault charges soon.

Had passengers on the bus at the time of the crash been more cooperative in the days following the accident, it's possible that authorities would have already filed charges against the singer, said Warren Diepraam, Harris County's vehicular crimes prosecutor.

The passengers, however, have been "reluctant to give statements to the police," Diepraam said.

The Bellaire Police Department, which is investigating the Easter morning crash, has contacted the Texas Rangers to help the department obtain those statements, he said. A decision on whether to charge the musician is expected within two weeks, authorities said.

Intoxication assault is a third-degree felony. And if charged with a DWI, it would be Navaira's third, generally a felony. But due to the fact that his second DWI charge, stemming from a January 2005 crash on Loop 410 at Interstate 35 in San Antonio, remains unresolved, the Houston case more than likely would be treated as a misdemeanor, authorities said.

"Legally it's not a felony DWI unless you have two prior convictions for DWI," said attorney Jay Norton, a San Antonio attorney. Theoretically, a person could have five pending DWI cases against him and they would all be considered first offenses, he said.

A report of the March 23 crash released this week by the Bellaire Police Department says that Navaira, 45, was intoxicated when the tour bus he was driving slammed into traffic barrels on the northbound West Loop, just before the exit onto the Southwest Freeway.

According to a Harris County prosecutor, Navaira had a commercial driver's license. He did not, however, have what is called a passenger endorsement, which is required to drive passengers in the type of tour bus vehicle he was driving, a Class C misdemeanor if charged.

Navaira, who suffered critical injuries and underwent two brain surgeries after being ejected through the windshield of the bus, is recovering at a Houston rehabilitation center. Five of his bandmates were also hurt in the wreck.

On Friday, Diepraam said the Harris County District Attorney's Office continues to reconstruct the events that led to the wreck.

"We're not going to make a rush to judgment on anybody. These are complex cases," he said.

Diepraam declined to say whether police have questioned Navaira, and he would not reveal the results of the toxicology report, citing privacy issues.

But the toxicology report, he said, "is certainly the focus of the investigation."

In Bexar County, Navaira still faces a 2005 DWI charge, his second here after completing probation and paying a fine for a 2000 arrest on drunken driving.

When he posted bail on that charge more than three years ago, Navaira should have been ordered to install a device in his car that would render the vehicle inoperable if he had been drinking. But a Bexar County judge waived that state law requirement and two other safety measures that might have been kept him from driving while intoxicated.

State law requires that those charged with their second DWI install the equipment, called an interlocking device, in their vehicles. A driver must first blow into the device, and if alcohol is detected, the car won't start. Those not required to install it are typically required to wear ankle monitors that can detect alcohol or take Antabuse, a prescription medication that can react violently with alcohol.

The judge who waived those requirements could not be located for comment Friday.

Since Navaira's arrest in January 2005, his attorneys have filed at least seven motions to suppress evidence. Another hearing on the case is scheduled for July 30.

Demetrio Duarte Jr., the attorney representing Navaira in the 2005 case, said his client plans to contest the allegations against him. The Harris County case, he said, would not affect his case here, at least not from a "legal standpoint."

"There is no plea bargain and he intends to fight the case," Duarte said. "So the fact that he was in a collision after that, and there is an allegation that alcohol was involved, that has no affect on his San Antonio case."

A second conviction, either here or in Harris County, if he is charged there, would elevate the remaining unresolved case to a felony, said Cliff Herberg, Bexar County's first assistant district attorney.

"If we got a DWI conviction tomorrow, there in Harris County it would definitely be a third DWI and a felony," he said.

But on Friday, Navaira's fans were less concerned about the charges pending against him than they are about his rehabilitation from his injuries.

"The most important thing is his health," said Dave Arevalo, a community activist who organized the first prayer vigil for Navaira at the Alamodome parking lot. "As he recovers, then we can deal with the situation. No one can fully comprehend what happened. No one else can speak for Emilio but Emilio."